Workers at the LNG Canada project have everything they need in the palm of their hand.
Cedar Valley Lodge, the accommodation centre for some 10,000 remote workers on the LNG Canada project, is pioneering the use of smartphone apps to disseminate information on large, remote jobsites.
LNG Canada’s prime construction partner, JGC Fluor, engaged facilities management company Sodexo Canada to deliver all hospitality, food and maintenance services for project workers – guests – at the lodge.
The facility is the first in North America to implement Sodexo’s MyWay app.
It allows workers to provide feedback, receive direct updates on daily menus and amenities and access information all through their smartphone. It has been extensively used at 22 sites in Australia.
Sodexo officials noted when COVID hit, the importance of the app became amplified.
“Bulletin boards and signage around a site, it is hard for a worker to see all of that when they are faced with challenges with COVID,” explained Colleen Dang-Wong, digital marketing manager at Sodexo.
She noted the site has as many as 4,500 workers living there at a time.
“All of those points of contact may not be accessible.”
And activities like checking out of rooms can be done through the app which minimizes the amount of face-to-face interactions.
Dang-Wong, who was in charge of the app’s rollout at the site, explained she and her team were initially worried if workers would adopt it.
But after training lodge staff to demo the app, educating workers about the app and including app-related material in workers’ welcome packages, usage has skyrocketed to 74 per cent.
“That is phenomenal when compared to the Australia sites which average between 39 to 70 per cent usage,” said Dang-Wong. “Think of the site it as its community and how many people are trying to find bus schedules, meal information, health clinic information, events information and more. This offers that.”
Workers can also customize their experience so the app filters activities they might want to know about and dietary needs they have. The app is also interactive. Not only can workers order some services and items with it, they can provide feedback.
“When we first mobilized it here cell and WiFi services was not that great,” said Dang-Wong. “It was great to be able to see the feedback and complaints. People said they needed to stay connected to family and friends and through that we were able to implement a solution.”
The app is still rolling out new services and Dang-Wong says Sodexo is looking at implementing it in other areas.
Russell Hixson is the staff writer for the Journal of Commerce where he covers the construction industry. Before that, he spent years in the U.S. as an investigative crime reporter. He lives in East Vancouver. Follow him on Twitter: @RussellReports.
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